FLINT, MI -- The City of Flint will use a $2,957,800 four-year grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to hire an economic development team.

Mayor Karen Weaver announced plans to hire an economic development team at a press conference on Monday, Feb. 19, at Flint City Hall. Members of the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation were in attendance at the announcement.

"The people who showed up today show us the need for this and the amount of team work that is going into the economic development of Flint," Weaver said. "This year is going to be the year of economic growth for our city."

The city plans on hiring at least three economic development team members to start off with, Weaver said. The first step is to hire a director for the team. Funding will be available to the team for four years.

"Most of the major cities have an economic development team and they work closely with their chamber," Weaver said. "That was something the city of Flint was missing. We'll have the funds to hire a small support team of at least three people to start off with, but I can't say what those exact positions will be just yet."

The city didn't have economic development team as a result of lack in funding and "a lot of that left with the emergency managers," Weaver said.

"We've got the funding, now we're looking at how to be self sustaining, but that four year start is just a great thing," Weaver said.

Weaver said the economic development team will have to work closely with the planning and development department because they've been in charge of the economic development in the city.

"We have a small portion of economic development in our planning and development department," Weaver said. "We're going to have to see how we can put that all together."

A job description has been put together and interviews for the director's position will be starting soon, Weaver said. The jobs have not yet been posted on the city's website.